We have come to a moment in history in which the idea of progress is under scrutiny. The recent enthusiasm for the possibilities of technology and digital culture is being paired with awareness of the ways in which we engage with our surroundings and other humans. This brings forward a whole series of new interpretations and reevaluations of basic architectural principles.

As architects, we forget we are part of a much larger context. We have to learn to speak less and to listen more. We have to understand that maybe only one in ten or 20 projects has relevance beyond our practice (because of a specific client, site, program, moment). The insatiable hunger of the media industry makes this hard to realize.

How local conditions can inform international architectural practice is a very important and intriguing issue for us, being from the “periphery.” We understand more and more how the particularities of working in a specific place shape our projects, way of working, and thinking, especially now that we are building more and in different locations. We really embrace these differences, but at the same time, we think it is important to communicate about shared interests with colleagues abroad. Working from Latin America, we wonder about how to make something strong and interesting—neither making this socioeconomic context the central theme in our work, nor denying it.